Martha Coffin Wright

Martha Coffin Wright
Martha Coffin Wright
Born	December 25, 1806 (1806-12-25) Boston, Massachusetts
Died	1875 (1876) (aged 68)
Residence	Auburn, New York
Occupation	American activist
Spouse(s)	Peter Pelham David Wright
Relatives	Lucretia Coffin Mott (sister) William Lloyd Garrison, Jr. (son-in-law)

Martha Coffin Wright (December 25, 1806 – 1875) was an American feminist, abolitionist, and signatory of the Declaration of Sentiments who was a close friend and supporter of Harriet Tubman.

Martha Coffin was born in Boston, Massachusetts on Christmas Day 1806, the youngest child of Anna Folger and Thomas Coffin, a merchant and former Nantucket ship captain. After the Coffin family moved to Philadelphia, Martha was educated at Quaker schools. Martha Coffin Wright was the youngest of eight children some of her well-known siblings names were Sarah, Lucretia, Eliza, Mary, and Thomas. All of her siblings were born in Nantucket and she was the only born in Boston. When she was two years old, Martha moved to Philadelphia and lived there for a total of 15 years. While living in Philadelphia, she was influenced by her elder sisters and her mother. Her father died in 1815, at the age of 48, because he contracted typhus fever. After, spending 15 years in Philadelphia Martha moved to upstate New York where she lived for many years. She moved to Aurora, New York which is located near the Finger Lakes in November 1827. Martha’s eldest sister Anna was a huge influence on the person she was. Anna was the one who sent Martha to school at the Westcott Boarding School in 1821. This was the same school that her three other siblings attended 10 years earlier.

Martha's older sister Lucretia Coffin Mott was a prominent Quaker preacher. In July 1848, she visited Martha's home in Auburn, New York. During that visit, Martha and Lucretia met with Elizabeth Cady Stanton at Jane Hunt's house and decided to hold a convention in nearby Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss the need for greater rights for women.